Chapter Text
The room fell silent. All the eyes turned to the little girl that stood by the door, seeming totally oblivious to the impact her arriving had on the three Theerapanyakuls brother. Especially Kim, who looked at her with conflicted eyes. Khun looked more curious than anything, analyzing the kid from head to toe, while Kinn – oh, poor Kinn – still appeared to be confused. It was like the information was still to sink in.
Well, he better process it quickly, because the girl’s right here, Porsche thought, amused by his lover’s reaction – or lack of it.
She sure was there. A tiny thing with a long wild hair that desperately needed to be combed, big brown and almond shaped eyes that were peeking inside the room curiously, and a noose and cheekbones made her look a lot like… well… Kim?
Big, who was quietly watching the scene unfold, was quickly to catch on the resemblance – like everyone else, actually - and though that if it was a soap opera, now would be the perfect time to freeze the scene and play a dramatic song.
“Kamlai, what are you doing here alone?”, Korn broke the silence. “I told you to not wander around by yourself.”
The girl – Kamlai – pouted.
“I woke up and nanny’s not there.”
Before Korn could say something, Kim huffed and left out a humorless laugh.
“Kamlai…”, he said to himself. “Looks like she’s already a K. The audacity of that woman.”
The little girl ran to Korn and, resting her forearms on his knees, looked up to Kim.
“Yep” she popped the ‘p’. “I’m Kamlai, like a jewel, because I’m very precious to mommy. I’m four and I love animals and to paint… but not in the walls, because it’s wrong… even if it’s funny”, the girl said serious, like reciting a speech, unknowingly fueling the fire inside the youngest – err, second youngest - Theerapanyakul. “And you?”
“None of you-”
“KIM! I really need your help with something, and it must be now”, Chay interrupted whatever atrocity his ex-boyfriend was about to say to a four years old. “Kam – can I call you Kam? – I’m Chay! It was super nice to meet you, but I really need to go. Bye everybody.” And, shoving Kim though the door, he left the room.
“Oh my god, I loved your pajamas!”, Thankhun said suddenly. “The Carebears theme brought this vintage aesthetic, and I loved that you went for the green background, instead of the common pink and blue.”
That made the girl laugh.
“You’re funny”, she said in shy manner, leaning more on Korn.
“You’re going to find out that I’m the most fun one in this family”, he said, fixing an imaginary strand of hair. “I’m Thankhun”, he extended a hand for the girl, who didn’t hesitate to reach out and shake it. “I’m the oldest son of this man you’re next to. That one over there is Kinn, he’s my younger brother. He’s cool. But not as cool as me, of course”, Kinn gave Kamlai a tight smile and waved his hand, to what she responded to. “That one that left is Kim, our other younger brother.”
“He looked angry. Did you fight?”, the little girl asked curious.
Everybody looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Thankhun tsked.
“Nah, he was just in a hurry to go to the bathroom. Don’t tell anyone”, he winked, and the girl laughed.
“Did he have too much milk? It happens to me sometimes.”
“Something like that”
Kamlai just made an ‘oh’ face and dropped the subject, quickly diverting her attention somewhere else. Or someone else.
“You’re so handsome! Who are you?”, she said excitedly, looking at Porsche with an awed expression and shining eyes. Said man laughed.
“My name is Porsche. I’m Kinn’s friend.” Porsche was so not the one bringing the LGBT+ subject to a curious four-year-old. “And I have to say, you have a good eye.” He raised his hand in a high five, to which the girl promptly responded and laughed.
“They are your brothers, Kamlai”, Korn said, patting the girls shoulder. She looked up to him, seeming confused.
“Brothers?”
“Yes, I’m your father. They’re also my sons. Hence, you’re brothers. I told you that already,” he explained calmly to her.
Her frown turned deeper.
“No! You’re not!”, she said out loud, taking everybody in the room – except Chan, who remained unfazed, and Korn himself, who only sighed, seeming like he was already done with the discussion - by surprise with her suddenly demeanor change.
“We already had this discussion. Your mother herself said in the letter you’re my daughter and asked me to take care of you for a while. And we had the DNA results too that confirmed that.”
“No! Mom always said that my father was a handsome, young and tall man! You’re a grandpa! You can’t be my father. She made a mistake!”, the girl was now screaming with tear in her eyes. Korn only rolled his eyes. Clearly it was not the first time they had this conversation.
A snicker could be heard in the background, a cough quickly followed it, like the person was desperately trying to suppress a laugh.
“Kam-”
“He must be my father!”, the girl interrupted Kinn, who tried to intervene in the girl’s outburst, and ran to Porsche’s lap, who had no other option than to catch her.
“Enough nonsense for the day,” and, turning to Chan, he added, “Tell the nanny to take her back to her room”.
Before the bodyguard chief could act, Thankhun interrupted.
“Oi, Pa! We want to get to know our little sister. I’ll take care of her from now on!”, Korn only nooded to that. Turning to Chan, the oldest Theerapanyakul brother said, “Send everything I need to know about her to Arm!”
“Yes, Kun Thankhun”, he bowed and went to open the door for Korn to leave.
Immediately, a woman looking like she was her fifties entered the room.
“Good morning, Khuns, I’m Pram, I’m Khun Kamlai’s nanny”, she bowed.
Thankhun assessed her and, finally, nodded, looking like she was approved for now.
“Take us to her room. She needs a bath and a change of clothes!”, and they all left the room, leaving only Porsche, Kinn and Big.
“So… She’s cute”, Porsche broke the silence.
Kinn sighed.
“I guess. Khun’s going to have fun”, and then looked at his boyfriend. “I’m worried about Kim”.
“Look, I know he’s your brother, but don’t you think his reaction was a little bit too much? I mean, it’s not like your father cheated on your mother. There’s actually nothing wrong, if you ask me”, cocking his head to the side, he added, “Only if you’re really worried about inheritance”.
Now Kinn laughed.
“I assure you there’s plenty for everyone and, sincerely, our roles in the family are very well defined. Kim himself is always trying to escape. He’s just too good at it for Pa to let him go.”
“And now there’s Chay”, Porsche sighed. Even if he didn’t like the idea and tried not to think about it too much, it was true that the former youngest – he really wants to laugh every time he thinks about it now – was now always around the compound because of Porchay.
“And now there’s Chay”, Kinn agreed. “But anyway, I just think he was caught by surprise and felt betrayed on behalf of mom. Even if there was no real cheating involved. I think he does not like the idea of her being forgotten - at least I feel like this a little. But I’m not about to unleash this on a baby”, and then he looked at Porsche, amused. “But the thing about Kim is that – even if he denies and tries to look all high and mighty - he’s a brat”.
“As every little brother”, they both laughed.
“Kim! Hey, Kim! Wait”, Porchay called again as he followed his ex-boyfriend to the training grounds.
“Not now, Chay”, Kim answered as he began to take his shirt and jeans off, staying only in his underwear, to what Porchay gulped.
It was not fair for Kim to have those abs, and arms, and legs, and-
No, focus, Chay! You’re not here to ogle your ex-boyfriend who humiliated you – in public, it’s always important to add – and left you bawling your eyes out and with a runny nose in front of his apartment while he left without looking back looking like an idol in that fucking cool leather jacket with fringes.
He really was not about to forget the bodyguard cautiously offering him a tissue. Really, a big part of him being stubbornly ignoring Kim until now is because he really needed to suffer for making him go through that.
“I thought you were begging to talk yesterday.”
Kim looked baffled at him.
“And I thought you said you’d rather get stuck in a room with a conservative politician discussing gay marriage.”
Chay rolled his eyes.
“Oh my god, I bet didn’t say it like that”, he waved his hand dismissively. “But, anyways, given the… situation just now, I guess you would like to talk and I… well, I could listen to you.”
Kim, already with his training shorts, started putting the straps around his knuckles.
“What situation?”
Chay sighed, frustrated.
“You know it’s not good to just keep it inside and not to deal with it, right? Next thing you see, you’ll be with blue hair in shady bars with dubious companies”, he halfhearted laughed.
Kim looked pointedly at him.
“I’m always in shady places and, usually, I’m the dubious company. It comes with being mafia,” and then he laughed. “But yeah, I’m still missing the blue hair. I bet I could pull it off.”
“Yeah, I think so too. Way better than me,” and then, without realizing it, Chay stared longingly at Kim’s long hair. “But I like your black hair”.
It was so soft. Especially when Kim would keep it without any product. But it was also super sexy slicked back, making him look all the dangerous mafia man he was.
When Chay snapped out of his trance, he realized they were staring at each other for minutes now.
He cleared his throat, lightly pushing Kim away.
“Yeah- So- I think you should… talk… er… to me?”
Aaaaand that’s why he was avoiding Kim all this time, really. Because he couldn’t help being an idiot next to him. And the more the time passed and all that hurt started, little by little, to stay behind, the more prone he was to forgive Kim in the first five minutes of conversation.
“Fine”, Kim said after some consideration. “But go change and spare with me”, he said while exiting the locker room, leaving a confused Chay behind.
“What?”
“You said you want me to talk. Ok. But I also need to blow some steam. So, let’s talk while we train.”
Oh my god, I just hope he does not blow my face. Chay thought later, when he entered the training grounds and saw Kim kicking the training bag and almost sending it across the room.
“I know I should’ve said that earlier, but I’m not really a fight-”
“I know. But you should practice more”, Kim came to stand up right in front of him. “Let’s start.”
“I can’t feel my arms!!!” Chay cried laying down in the mattress, sweating profusely and trying not to die. “I told you I’m not a fighter! Why did you do this to me?”
Kim, who was by Chay’s side, laughed.
“It was just a light training. If you can keep up with that, you should start exercising more frequently.”
“I hate to sweat”, Chay whined. “And you totally tricked me! You didn’t say a word while we were fighting! It was only ‘stronger, Porchay’ or, oh my god, ‘my grandma could punch stronger than that and she’s dead’. Kim, that was so offensive!”
Now Kim was laughing. Something he only seemed to know how to do with Chay. Then, slowly, the sound died, and they went quiet.
“I just thought that my father really loved my mom”, he said so low that it was almost a whisper. “And then we found out that he had this other woman that he liked enough to keep by his side and even to have a child with her. It’s like my mother is dying all over again. Like she’s being forgotten.”
Chay sighed.
“But no matter what, you still love her. And you still remember her. And I bet you brothers do too. So she’s still alive,” now he turned his body to Kim, who turned to him face him too. “But it’s not like that, you know. It seems like your father met this woman years after your mom passed and it’s not fair to expect him to mourn her forever. Just because he met someone new does not mean he didn’t love her or that he forgot about her. I think life just keeps going.”
“I know,” Kim agreed, but then he slightly pouted. “But still, it’s weird. And, really, if we were married and I died first and you met someone new I would come back from the dead to kill him.” Chay couldn’t suppress the laugh that erupted. “I’m serious, Chay.”
“What, wouldn’t you be happy that I moved on with my life and was not living in suffer?” He teased.
“No! That’s bullshit! You already know I’m an egotistical prick and I doubt it would change just because I’d be a ghost.”
“Anyway,” he said when he managed to stop laughing. “It’s not right to lash out on the girl. She’s just a baby”, Kim huffed, “and your sister.” That earned him a glare. “C’mon Kim, she looks just like you!”
“She does not!”, he was offended now.
“She does! She’s so cute! You can’t be mean to her!”
“You think I’m cute?” Of course he would pick on that.
“Shut up! Don’t be mean to your sister!”, he said standing up.
Kim just rolled his eyes.
“I won’t”, he agreed, but then, standing up and looking at Chay with a mischievous smirk, he added, “if you unblock me”.
“You’re manipulating me!”, Chay said accusatory.
“No, angel, you’re manipulating me,” he came closer and embraced Chay, putting his hands lazily in the small of his back.
The younger was quick to get out of the hold.
“You should not be a prick to your sister because she is your sister – and a child, might I add -, not because of something so selfish”, he lectured.
“I think we already stablished I am selfish.”
“Do what you want. I’m out of here”, Chay got his fight gloves and turned to leave.
“Chay”, Kim called, making the younger one stop in his tracks.
“What?!”
“Unblock me.”
He almost couldn’t dodge the glove aimed to his head.